In light of the recent military plane crashes and deaths overseas, there is a “Memorial/Hero WOD” we will be participating in this Saturday during our classes as well as open gym, should you decide to participate.

Saturday’s WOD is:

“Fallen Raven”

8 Rounds of:

6 Cleans 135/95

7 Bar Facing Burpees

6 Toes to Bar

***Every 3 Min, Sprint 100 m

Goals, goals, goals!!!  We all have them, regardless of their specificity or quantifiable nature, they exist.  BUT, what is the right path to take to get there?  Many of you have the general goal in here and it’s simple… To improve your health and overall fitness.  The nature of CrossFit is a great thing and you can continue so long as you take care of yourself.  Now, the nature of competitive CrossFit is a bit different.  No, I’m not referring to JUST the people that actively participate in competitions.  We are all competitive by nature (even you guys that say, “no, not me”-yet jealousy of movements, loads lifted, times on WOD’s, physique, etc fuel you to perform and try harder… FYI, that’s a form of competitiveness).  So, what am I saying?

Listen to the best advice out there… Who do you ask?  You guessed it… Yourself!  Be real with yourself and listen to your body.  All too often I hear or witness people complaining about different ailments to others’ (not to coaches) while trying to tough it out and get through the WOD or day, even though many of you have MANY ailments.  Veteran based people are familiar with soreness vs. injury, but still end up doing things they probably shouldn’t be doing, sorry guys, but not every body gets a trophy in this sport, regardless if you gut it out through an injury!!!  Use your noggins guys. You are training in here to enhance your life, not help pad the Dr’s wallet and send their kids’ through school.  It doesn’t have to go that far.  If you have an issue, let us know!  I’m hearing about tweaked backs, shoulders, calves, knees, etc…  There are many ways to alter movements or WODs and still give you a great functional workout without having you leave for time to get y0ur ice pack, IBU profen, and heavy narcotics.  It takes communication!!!  Most of you excel at communication, which in a class setting leads to not paying attention or simply not listening (which is the one of the best ways to get an injury), but communicate with whomever is running the classes to ensure our knowledge of your issue as to not either push you beyond your threshold, or make sure we have a substitute exercise for you.  You CAN train with an injury (trust me, I’ve had to modify MANY MANY things), but you must let someone know of the injury/pain.  Denial will lead to worsening the injury and instead of getting the right information ahead of time, it may force you to take a mandatory rest period.  This is an addicting place, but you need to be resting.  There are supplements to help with your recovery and allow you to train harder and more frequently (if interested, ask a coach about which supplement is right for you), but you still need days off.

Communicating with the coaches will not only allow us to know what’s going on, but perhaps we know an exercise or stretch that may help rehabilitate the injury.  Some of you are in such denial, that you already know the fix… REST!!  With that said, you still need to be cognizant of what you did and have the expectations of probable soreness.  So, if we just did 1,000 pullups, I don’t want to hear that you’ve suddenly developed tendonitis in your elbow (bicep and brachioradiallus).  I most often hear it’s an elbow issue, but really it’s just sore.  My first question will be and has been, “is it both arms? what did you notice it? okay it was after a ton of pullups?  now, lightly pullup against a bar, simulating a pullups but very light… does that make it hurt a bit?  perhaps in the lats too?”  Ok, we’ve identified its from the exercise and not an injury.  BUT, unilateral issues that severly restrict your ROM (Range of motion) or completely reduced loading the area is something that should be noted.

Again, you’re here training to enhance your life, you don’t want your life full of pain.  It’s awesome to crush a WOD or PR, but it’s not so awesome when you can’t walk for the next three days… I understand you want to push, but I will straight tell you, if I see fit, to take a few days off.  Don’t get mad at me for recognizing you need rest.  And if you do get mad, well, I’m over it… I’m looking out for your physical well-being.  When your body feels better, you’ll perform better.

#=)

Monsters of Massage will be here tonight from 5-7 p.m. There are still a few openings left, sign up at the front desk or call to reserve a spot.

The Monsters are coming back in Tuesday night from 5-7, EXTREMELY worth it!  If you have any mobility issues (especially the shoulders or the hips) make an appt to see them at the front desk.  It’s only a $15 charge to help set your muscles free!

Monsters of Massage will be coming again this coming Tuesday, April 30. Sign up now to get a spot or even reserve two spots for a longer session of fun.

Have you ever met someone that could light up the room with their smile? How about someone who can make you laugh with just a few witty words? Or, even better, how about someone who is the epitome of Love, Perseverance, Inspiring, and more recently, Bravery? If not, I am proud to introduce you to Marco Manuel Ochoa Jr.

At first glance, you may think that Marco is your ordinary 8 year old boy who lives at home with his Mother, Father, 2 dogs and 2 frogs. Yes, he loves to run and play with friends, play video games, watch cartoons and occasionally, not want to get up for school. For the most part, Marco is just like every other 8 year old boy, however, it has taken Marco over 5 years of hard work to become this “ordinary” 8 year old boy.  At the age when most kids are starting to talk and play with peers, Marco could not. Every day tasks such as grocery shopping could quickly turn into a parents’ nightmare. At the age of 3 1/2, Marco was diagnosed as being on the Autism Spectrum. This diagnosis helped to explain his complete meltdowns when it came to certain touches, smells and sounds. Marco frequently suffered from severe meltdowns. On top of this, Marco’s speech, gross and fine motor skills were extremely delayed.  This began Marco’s first set of challenges, needless to say, they were an enormous undertaking for such a young boy.

Fast forward 5 1/2 years later, Marco can hold his own conversations, with children and adults alike. Not only is he doing well in school, he is thriving! Marco has managed to go from 100% Special Education in preschool and kindergarten to currently over 90% General Education in his Second grade year. He is one of the best readers in his class and consistently passes reading, writing and math tests as well. Marco is now described by friends and teachers as the kid who has a sparkle in his eyes, a fabulous smile, hilariously outspoken, endless energy, and having an appetite of a small tribe!

Over these last few months, Marco has changed. His eyes became dull, his smile became a wonderful, but rare occasion. He grew very tired, taking long naps whenever he could, including during class. His funny quips were far and few between, and his appetite dwindled to non existent. Marco started complaining that his tummy hurt every time he ate anything at all. He started to turn grey in color. Often at night, he would be in tears, complaining about pain in his legs. After two visits to the Dr. with no results, we just  knew something was wrong.

On Saturday, March 23, we received a call at 5 AM urging us to rush Marco into the ER because of severe Anemia and blood loss. We started tests immediately to find out what was ailing Marco. Within a few hours, we were told that Marco had a very large mass in his abdomen and he needed a bone marrow biopsy. The bone marrow biopsy was inconclusive at first, so we proceeded to perform a tumor biopsy.

On Wednesday, March 27, Marco was given a diagnosis of Neuroblastoma. Neuroblastoma is a rare solid tumor cancer that attacks the sympathetic nervous system. This type of cancer affects roughly 650-700 children per year in the US. This cancer has presented itself in Marco as a large tumor on his abdomen that has spread onto his spinal cord, lymph nodes and into his bone marrow, with lesions on his liver and lungs. What makes this even more rare, is that Neuroblastoma is usually found in children under the age of 2, less than 3 percent of these cases are found in children Marco’s

age.

Please join Marco, as he so bravely faces his new journey. It will be a long, arduous road, but as he has proven before, he is up to challenge. You can follow Marco by visiting his Caringbridge site at : http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/marcoochoajr

On Saturday, June 8th, we will be hosting a fundraising event at our Rocklin CrossFit of Roseville location, 212 Harding Blvd, Roseville, CA.

Similar to “FGB” and “CrossFit for Hope” events, there will be a main event or WOD that is totally optional.  Suggested donation is just $20 to participate in the WOD itself and there will be side events as well for chances to win some swag!  Our community has come together quite nicely for this event.  Coach Casey DJ’s on the side and will be hooking up some great audio.  Ryan will be making up some apparel and Tim and Cami with BeastFuel will be cooking up a storm and all proceeds will be donated to the Ochoa’s to help in this time of need.  We will be having raffles for FREE months of training, ProAnox Genesis antioxidant systems, Progenex proteins, credit to be used at our proshop for shoes, shirts, shorts, sweatshirts, strength wraps, etc… We will also have some clippers on stand by and for any body that would love to donate, but perhaps don’t have the means; Rocklin CrossFit will donate $50 per shaved head(at a cap of 10 people)!!!!

Mark your calenders and get ready to come together to help support our family!

Sign up at the front desk. Only a few spots left, or better yet, reserve two spots back-to-back for a whole half hour session!

Tuesday between 5-7 pm, just

$15 for a 15 min session

There will be open gym after classes tomorrow until 2. Come in and work on some skills or get

a wod in!